Presentation of the Use of a Trained Detection Dog for Recording the Impacts of Wind Turbines

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Presentation of the Use of a Trained Detection Dog for Recording the Impacts of Wind Turbines

The SPBT (Society for the Protection of Biodiversity of Thrace) aggregates findings from all available sources into an open, public database. These sources include systematic surveys, monitoring reports from wind energy companies, citizen science observations, data from bird transmitters, and footage from cameras installed on wind turbines.

Three years after the publication of the database on the SPBT website, the number of dead or injured birds and bats detected near wind turbines is unfortunately rising. From 563 records in 2023, the number reached 735 by March of this year. Moreover, this is just the tip of the iceberg; countless more individuals go undetected and are never recovered. This occurs either because daily searches are not conducted at all wind turbines, because carcasses are removed by scavengers, or because animals are thrown a great distance upon impact, landing in dense vegetation where it is realistically impossible for a human to spot them.

The significant increase in findings over the last three years is largely due to SPBT's systematic research using a trained dog. This research is conducted at just 12 of the 276 wind turbines operating in Evros and Rhodope. At these 12 turbines alone, 108 findings were recorded during SPBT's systematic weekly searches over a 20-month period (July 2024–March 2026).

Regrettably, many of the wind turbine "victims" belong to threatened and protected species. While immense efforts have been made and substantial funds invested in their conservation for decades, very little is being done to halt the unregulated spatial planning of wind turbines that has persisted for 25 years.

It is crucial that all findings from every available source are consolidated and publicly accessible in a single database, ensuring they are taken into account by all stakeholders involved in planning, licensing decisions, and post-construction impact monitoring. We expect this volume of evidence to act as a deterrent, halting the installation of wind farms in Thrace—especially in the wake of the catastrophic forest fires. The database is available on the SPBT website: https://spbt.gr/downloads/ https://spbt.gr/downloads/